Skull Session: Big Ten Coaches Talk Ohio State vs. Alabama, Kristina Johnson shows her support for the football team and Mookie Cooper explains her transfer

Skull Session: Big Ten Coaches Talk Ohio State vs. Alabama, Kristina Johnson shows her support for the football team and Mookie Cooper explains her transfer

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Don’t mind me, just counting the days until Ryan Day puts Nick Saban in a trash.

Word of the day: Philander.

HOW BUCKEYES STACK. No one knows the Buckeyes like their Big Ten opponents, and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic hired 11 Big Ten program coaches to talk about Ohio State’s chances against Bama.

Most were extremely complimentary – as they should be about a team that just won their fourth consecutive Bg Ten title – but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are choosing the Buckeyes to win, too.

Perhaps the most encouraging comment about Ohio State’s chances came from one of the running back coaches who spoke of a team that appears to be peaking at the right time. “They have good players,” he said. “The team that played against Clemson last week was not the team that you saw on tape all year.

“I just don’t see them beating Alabama, but I also thought Clemson would beat them too.”

Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure Virginia Tech wouldn’t have chosen Ohio State to beat Alabama in 2014, and we saw how it worked.

And you know, I agree. Did the state of Ohio that played Penn State, Rutgers or Indiana beat Alabama? Probably not. But the Buckeye team that played Clemson – that team would roll Bama like a cheap rug. Prayer for us to see this team.

“STRICTLY BUSINESS.” The Buckeyes lost one of the * check notes * 10 of the top 100 players stocked in their reception room with Mookie Cooper returning to his hometown Mizzou to end his career.

Being real, the state of Ohio will be fine after your departure. And by all accounts, Mookie too.

I cannot blame a teenager for changing his mind about a decisive decision in a perfect world, let alone one that is being dominated by a global pandemic.

Good luck, Mookie. Go ahead and dump Georgia a few times for me, right?

PREZ UNDERSTANDS. Kristina Johnson has been the president of the state of Ohio for just seven months, but she continues to totally hit the “I care about the football team” part of the job that her predecessor completely neglected.

I’m not sure if Michael Drake participated in football training in his six years as president.

I understand that the state of Ohio is much, much bigger than its football team, but it is extremely refreshing to have a president who understands these sports issues as well.

POLYNESIAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR. Third-team All-Big Ten Haskell Garrett continues to earn praise in the postseason.

First, finding out that Zach Wilson was, in fact, Polynesian was the most shocking and surprising thing I saw on Twitter yesterday – and that includes the gentleman dressed as a bald eagle who was taking selfies in the Senate Chamber. I also appreciate how they included his (and only his) middle name in an attempt to say “Look! He really is Polynesian!”

Second, he may just be emerging this year, but I’ve been on the train of Haskell Garrett’s hype since he posted this extremely bad shot before he even enrolled at Ohio State.

Buckeyes need to recruit more Polynesians. Hopefully Haskell has opened that pipeline.

SONG OF THE DAY. “Without Me” by Eminem.

NOT SUITABLE FOR SPORTS. Denmark launches a children’s TV show about a man with a giant penis … The last two white rhinos from the north of the Earth … How the serial killer Rodney Alcala appeared in ‘The Dating Game’ and won … Um lawyer is accused of switching legal services to drugs … Who invented the alphabet? …

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